I.Coast opposition calls for daily protests ahead of presidential election

Ivory Coast's two main opposition parties called on Sunday for daily protests, less than two weeks before a presidential election in which their two main candidates are barred from running.

At a march in Abidjan on Saturday, which had been banned by authorities the day before, security forces dispersed crowds with tear gas. At least 237 people were arrested, according to Interior Minister Vagondo Diomande.

Ivory Coast's government earlier this month imposed sweeping bans on meetings and rallies protesting the exclusion of leading critics of President Alassane Ouattara from the October 25 vote.

Ex-leader Laurent Gbagbo and Tidjane Thiam, who heads the west African country's largest opposition party, are among the figures who have been prevented from challenging 83-year-old Ouattara's bid for a fourth term.

"Demonstrations for democracy, justice, and peace will continue every day across the country until the demands for political dialogue are met," announced the Common Front, which unites the two main opposition parties, in a joint statement seen by AFP onSunday.

Gbagbo and Thiam's parties both reported numerous people injured on Saturday, and reaffirmed their "firm determination not to be intimidated or distracted by the regime's brutal repression".

In the upcoming election, Ouattara, will face off against former ministers Jean-Louis Billon and Ahoua Don Mello, as well as former first lady Simone Ehivet Gbagbo and Henriette Lagou, who previously ran for president in 2015.